


Papa's Favorite Day

by aimiichie



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, I love Sabine, I love Tom, I will write them forever, Papa and Mari, Papa love, The Dupain-Chengs are AMAZING, YOU CANT CONVINCE ME NOT TO LOVE THEM, family love, oh and this story is about refrigerators, they are amazing parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 00:52:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16506050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aimiichie/pseuds/aimiichie
Summary: It's her Papa's Favorite Day today! And Marinette's worst nightmare. Can the Dupain-Cheng's survive today? Or will frustration tear their family apart? - My entry for the Miraculous Amino Official Day Challenge





	Papa's Favorite Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the Official Day Challenge on the Miraculous Amino. The day I received was "Clean Your Refrigerator Day". Yup...I made a story about cleaning refrigerators. Exciting stuff. ;)

When Marinette opened her eyes that Saturday morning, she could already smell that today was the day she was least looking forward to all week.   
  
She let out a loud sigh, planting her face into her pink pillow with a distinct pout etched on her face.    
  
“Marinette? Are you okay?” Tikki questioned, glancing at her chosen with a small tilt to her head.   
  
“No,” a mumble replied as the bluenette wearily turned her head to breathe out a frustrated groan. She glanced at her red kwami with a small scowl on her face. “Today is Papa’s Favorite Day.”   
  
Tikki‘s antennae twitched slightly as her head tilted further, confused as to why her chosen was looking grumpy. “His Favorite Day? But that sounds like it’ll be fun though!”   
  
Marinette shook her head vigorously, sitting up quickly on her bed. “You don’t understand, Tikki. It’s only Clean Your Refrigerator Day, but Papa treats it like it’s a national holiday!” She nodded toward the trap door which leads downstairs. “He’ll be barging in my room soon holding a dishrag and cleaning wipes!”   
  
Tikki’s large blue eyes widened slightly, as her mouth dropped to a small ‘oh’. “I didn’t realize they had a day for cleaning out refrigerators!” She said, letting out a small glee of laughter. “Humans are really interesting!” She exclaimed, twirling her body in the air.   
  
“It’s barely a recognized day, Tikki,” Marinette smiled, her kwami lifting her mood just slightly. “I doubt anyone actually knows it’s today other than the Dupain-Chengs,” she said with a roll of her eyes.   
  
“Well, it sounds like it’s just cleaning, Marinette,” Tikki continued to smile. She placed her paw on her chosen’s head. “It’s not like it’s the end of the world!”   
  
As Marinette pursed her lips slightly at her kwami, a knock was heard on her trap door before it opened, revealing a rather large, but smiling man. “Mare-Bear! You’re finally up! We were waiting for you before we got started downstairs!”   
  
Just as Marinette predicted, she saw a dirty dishrag and cleaning supplies peeking its way out of her papa’s hand. She gave him a bitter smile. “Just got up, Papa.”   
  
“Well don’t dilly-dally! We have the whole day today, and we can’t waste anymore precious cleaning time!” Tom said, grinning widely up at his daughter, a bit too peppy for her liking especially on this early Saturday morning. He placed the cleaning supplies on the edge of her floor. “I’ll leave these for you before I head back down. You know what to do with them,” her father said with a wink, before closing the trap door from behind him.    
  
Marinette sighed and looked towards Tikki who had quickly hidden behind her cat pillow when her father showed up. “You don’t know the half of it, Tikki.” She quickly shook her head before climbing down her post to get changed.   
  
Today was going to be a _very_ long day.    
  


* * *

  
  
As Marinette descended the stairs to her kitchen, she could already smell the strong odor of pinesol flowing through their loft.   
  
“Marinette! You’re finally up,” her mother said, grinning widely at her daughter as she entered into the living room. Sabine was currently on the kitchen floor, scrubbing it with a small bristle brush. “Croissants are on the table for you to eat for breakfast but be quick about it,” she pointed her brush in the direction of their cleaning closet. “Your father wants you to start clearing out the bakery’s fridge first and we need you to help bring down the cleaning supplies downstairs.”   
  
Marinette gave her mom a silent thumbs up before taking a seat to munch on her papa’s homemade croissants. She tried her best not to let out an annoyed groan. She just hated cleaning. Especially on a Saturday morning.   
  
She got out her phone and shot Alya a short good morning text before popping the rest of her croissant in her mouth and hopping off the stool seat. She walked over to the cleaning closet and picked out a bunch of old rags, wipes, scrubs, and her papa’s famous kitchen cleaner mix (which he always swore it works like magic because it could get rid of any stain within seconds, but who was she to know if it really worked?) before heading downstairs to their bakery.    
  
Although Saturday’s were her parent’s busiest day, all their loyal customers knew today was the only day of the month that Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Pâtisserie was closed. As she made her way to the back where their fridge was located, she could already see her Papa rummaging things out of the fridge.    
  
“Here you go, Papa,” she announced, placing all her supplies on the bakery table.    
  
Tom looked up and smiled in greeting. “Mare-Bear! Just in time. Come here!” He gestured, swinging the door to their large fridge open. She made her way over to him and ducked underneath her papa’s large arms. Tom pointed at a tray of uncooked pastries and mixing bowls filled with an unknown substance. “What do you suppose those are?”   
  
Marinette couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she absentmindedly stared into the fridge. Ever since she was old enough to bake, her papa played the same guessing game with her every year on Clean Your Refrigerator Day. “I don’t know, Papa,” she robotically responded back, trying her best to at least pretend to play his game. “What is it?”   
  
Tom smiled, unaware of his daughter’s disinterest and took the items out. “These are going to be tomorrow’s best sellers!” He pointed to the tray, “Pumpkin infused strudels for the fall season and,” he looked towards the bowl. “Cinnamon Apple filling for the pie your mother wants to make!”    
  
Marinette pressed her lips together. “Oh, yummy Papa,” she responded, her voice trailing softly at the end.   
  
He continued to smile as he placed them back into the fridge. Tom didn’t want to admit it, but he could tell his daughter wasn’t enjoying his favorite day as much as she did in previous years. It pained him to see their long tradition fading, but there wasn’t much he could do except continue to make this day as fun as can be.    
_   
Oh, the joys of raising a teenager. _   
  
He quickly shook his head from those thoughts and clapped his hands together. “Alright then, Mare-Bear. You know what to do!” He stepped away from the fridge and allowed Marinette to take over his spot. He pointed upstairs and gave a little wink. “I’m going to go up and help your mother. God knows our kitchen fridge needs more help than this one!” He said with a chuckle before ruffling his daughter’s head, something he knew she loved him doing as a kid.   
  
Instead of a loud giggle like she always used to do, Marinette sent him a large frown, immediately brushing her hair back down. “Papa! Stop it! You ruined my hair!” Tom couldn’t help but let out a bitter smile in return as he made his way back up the stairs.    
  
_ Marinette really isn’t his little girl anymore, is she? _   
  
As Marinette absentmindedly began to take things out of her bakery’s fridge, she couldn’t help but groan at how boring this day was already becoming.    
  
Tikki peeked out of her purse. “How’s it going, Marinette?”   
  
“I hate cleaning, Tikki.”   
  
Her kwami giggled softly. “Of course you do. But your dad will be so happy when you finish!”   
  
Marinette let out a small hum as she scrubbed the back of the fridge with her papa’s cleaning mix. As she semi-finished the second shelf, a loud ding of her phone rang through the air, and Marinette could swear it was her saving grace at this point.    
  
__ Morning girl! How’s clean out the fridge day going? :p    
  
Not good. I’m so bored. Dx SOS!!    
  
That bad huh?    
  
Tell me about it...please tell me you have some way to get me out of this??   
  
I do actually. ;) Nino texted asking if I wanted to go the movies with him this afternoon.  He also mentioned Adrien was coming too. Aaand (though not very subtle) Adrien asked if you were coming too. ;)   
  
WHAT?? Seriously?? I am so there!!   
  
What about your dad’s favorite day?    


_ I’ll get it done quickly. I am NOT missing this date with Adrien!    
  
Haha xD alright. I’ll let the guys know. Good luck finishing it all!   
  
_ _Thanks. Gonna need all the luck in the world._   
  
Marinette let out a loud squeal, startling her kwami who was busy scrubbing a stain from inside the fridge. “What happened?”   
  
“I’m going to the movies with Adrien today!”   
  
Tikki tilted her head as she looked between the fridge and her chosen. “But what about Clean Your Refrigerator Day?”   
  
Marinette rolled her eyes before pulling up her sleeves. “I’ll get it done all now before the movies.” She grabbed her papa’s cleaning mix, allowing Tikki to fly out of the fridge. “Time to get down and dirty!”    
  
Tikki’s eyes widened as her chosen dumped the bottle of the mix into the fridge and started scrubbing hastily. “U-uh, Marinette. I-I don’t think that’s the best way to clean it.”   
  
“It’ll be fine, Tikki. Just watch. We’ll be done in no time!”   
  
And like Marinette predicted, it only took her another 15 minutes before she was calling her papa down to inspect her work.    
  
Tom was surprised to see that Marinette had finished that quickly and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. She really has improved from previous years! “Alright, Mare-Bear. Let’s see your beautiful work!”   
  
Marinette absentmindedly nodded, glancing down at her phone to give Alya two thumbs up. She smiled as Alya responded back with a winky face. But before she could respond back, her attention was taken as a loud gasp broke through the bakery. “W-What, what’s wrong?” She questioned looking up at her papa whose face had grown pale white.    
  
“M-Marinette,” her papa whispered, his eyes traveling over the bakery’s fridge. “What did you do?”   
  
Marinette scrunched her eyes as she stared into the fridge as well. It looked perfectly fine and clean to her. “What do you mean? It’s clean like you wanted.”    
  
Tom continued to shake his head, taking out the trays and mixing bowls from the fridge. “No no no. Everything’s wrong.” He rubbed a finger underneath the bottom of the third shelf and showed her a small dark mark that came off. “For one, its still dirty,” he reached for his pumpkin scones and cinnamon filling, quickly smelling them before letting out a wince. “And two, you added too much of my cleaning mixture to the fridge so all the pastries have gone bad.” Tom turned to his daughter with a large frown. “What were you thinking Marinette?”    
  
She felt her eyes narrowing slightly, but bit back a reply. When Marinette didn’t respond back, Tom sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I-I thought I taught you better, Mare-Bear. You have to do this over again, except this time, I’m going to have to watch you do it so I know you’re doing it properly this time.”   
  
Marinette's mouth had finally dropped at this statement. “Papa! No! I’m going out after this. I can’t stay here to clean it again!   
  
Tom’s eyebrow rose. “What do you mean you’re going out? Today has always been our day.”   
  
“It means I’m going out. Alya invited me to the movies and I’m going. I’ll clean the fridge properly when I get back, but I have to go!”   
  
Tom blinked his light green orbs slowly before he finally shook his head. “No. You made a promise to your family that’d you help clean today. You didn’t do it properly, so I’m sorry Marinette. But I can’t let you go off and have fun when you didn’t follow through with your responsibilities first.”   
  
Marinette’s jaw clenched as she glared at her father. “Papa! You can’t do this! I tried the best I could!” She yelled, throwing the dirty rags she was holding against the floor. “This is a stupid day anyway! It’s not like it matters if our fridge is clean to begin with!”   
  
Sabine, who had been watching from a distance, felt her mouth drop as her right hand moved to her chest, clearly appalled by her daughter’s outburst. “Marinette,” she swallowed. “Apologize right now to your father!”   
  
But the bluenette let out a frustrated groan instead. “No! I’m tired of this day already, especially because he treats me like a little kid! I’m 16 now. I don’t need to be treated like a child anymore!”   
  
Tom had stood still as the two women in his life continued to argue in front of him. He took a last look at the fridge, letting its cold air send chills down his spine. He let out a sad sigh.    
  
He finally lost his daughter.   
  
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You _will_  apologize to your father righ—“ Tom placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder with a small shake of his head.   
  
“It’s okay, sweetie. Marinette is right,” he gave his wife a small smile before placing his towel onto the bakery table. He stared at his daughter, who was staring up at him with confused look on her face. He pursed his lips. “Go do whatever you want for the rest of the day, Marinette. It’s fine. I can handle the rest.”   
  
“B-but Tom!” Sabine tried to interject, but her husband shook his head once more. She shut her mouth but couldn’t help the wrinkles developing itself onto her forehead.    
  
Marinette bit her lip, locking eyes with her papa’s shining soft green orbs before finally turned away. She ran up the stairs until she entered her room, closing her trap door behind her with a loud thud.   
  
Tikki peered out from her purse, watching silently as Marinette fell on her chaise with a soft groan. “That wasn’t very nice of you, Marinette…” her kwami finally said, floating cautiously out and giving her chosen a disapproving shake of her head. “You should go back down and properly apologize to your parents.”   
  
“Why should I, Tikki?” Marinette mumbled back. She looked down at her pale hands. “This entire day is so stupid! So what if I didn’t clean things properly or poured too much cleaner on the shelves?” Her hands clenched. “It looked perfectly fine. And it’s not like it’ll matter in the end! It’ll all get messed up eventually.”   
  
Tikki sighed and floated in front of her face. “That may be so, but they’re still your parents. You shouldn’t have treated them that way. They only ever want what’s best for you.”   
  
“What’s best for me is not treating me like I’m some kind of kid all the time who needs to be watched!” Marinette scowled, glaring at her bedroom floor. “I’m a hero of Paris for kwami’s sake. The least they can do is treat me like I’m 16.”   
  
“Well maybe if you acted like one, then they would.”   
  
Marinette turned to her kwami who was deeply frowning at her chosen. Tikki let out a small sigh before her large blue eyes met with hers. “Marinette, you may be Paris’s hero as Ladybug, but to still call yourself a hero after the stunt you just pulled in the bakery? I am actually ashamed to call you my chosen right now,” Tikki said with a shake of her head. “How you treated your parents just now, especially your dad was probably the least heroic I’ve ever seen one of my Ladybug’s being. And that’s saying a lot because I’ve had many.”    
  
Marinette's eyes had widened as each word that escaped her kwamis lips hit her where it hurt the most. Her heart clenched, feeling the bitterness toward her parents chip away, leaving nothing but the horrible growing torment of guilt in its place. Her mouth opened, desperately trying to come up with something to judge her actions from the past hour, but none came out.    
  
Tikki silently watched as her chosen slowly came into terms with her wrongdoings. The kwami sighed once more. “Just consider your parent’s feelings and perspectives, alright?” Tikki ended, pursing her lips slightly in her direction.    
  
Marinette looked down at her hands. “Y-yeah, Tikki,” she finally uttered.    
  
As Tikki floated away to her hiding spot, Marinette bit her lip as the events she had just caused flashed through her mind, the look of utter disappointment on her papa’s face refusing to disappear from her brain.   
  
__ She had indeed royally screwed up.    
  


* * *

  
  
After sending Sabine to go back and finish cleaning their kitchen fridge alone, Tom had sat down on his bakery table and placed his head into his hands with a soft sigh.   
  
He had never ever wanted to get in a fight with his daughter. It was the last thing he ever wanted to do and he couldn’t help but be afraid that he ruined their relationship forever. As hot tears threatened to spill from his eyes, a soft voice broke his thoughts.    
  
“Papa?”    
  
He lifted his head as his eyes stared into bluebells.  He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes as his daughter cautiously approached him.    
  
As Marinette stood in front of him, she couldn’t help but look down, feeling the guilt and her wrong doings eat away inside of her. “I-I’m sorry for how I acted, Papa,” she finally whispered, shaking slightly as a rush of cold heat entered into her body. She blinked back her incoming tears. “I-I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”   
  
Tom’s mouth curved into a small smile as he reached out to raise his daughter’s chin up so she was staring at him. He felt the tears in his eyes come back as he slowly watched her tears fall in front of him. He pulled her gently into her chest. “Hey, hey. It’s alright, Marinette. Don’t cry.”   
  
A soft sob echoed into his chest as he continued to pat her back. “I-I’m sorry, Papa! I didn’t mean anything I said! I was j-just angry. And I d-didn’t take your feelings into consideration. And I-I’m sorry!”   
  
Tom slightly chuckled, squeezing his daughter tightly. “It’s okay, Marinette. It’s okay. I forgive you. It’s fine,” he kept repeating.    
  
After letting out a couple of more sobs, Marinette finally pulled back, rubbing the tears from her blood-shot eyes. She let out small whimper as she stared into her father’s comforting green orbs. “A-am I still your Mare-Bear?” She choked out in a faint whisper.   
  
Tom smiled widely and gathered his petite daughter into his arms once again. She tried her best to hug his entire belly. “Of course, you never stopped. You’ll always be my sweet Mare-Bear. Forever and ever, don’t you forget that.”   
  
Marinette let out a small giggle as she looked back up into her Papa’s shining green eyes, her tears finally disappearing from her face.   
  
Tom smiled back down at his daughter and patted her gently on the head. “You know Marinette,” he started, looking back toward the half-cleaned fridge. “It’s not about cleaning the refrigerator that makes today my favorite day,” he whispered as Marinette’s bluebell eyes widened slightly. “It was always about spending time with the people I love.”   
  
He chuckled to himself before looking down at his daughter. “Although I admit, cleaning isn’t the ideal bonding situation, it did teach a certain daughter of mine some life skills that she’ll take with her for the rest of her life.”    
  
Marinette let out small smile, before she brushed away the tears from her face. “Like what, Papa?” She asked. “Maybe she didn’t realize you were teaching her these skills until now.”   
  
Tom smiled down at her and placed a soft kiss to the top of head. “Well, gratitude is one. While cleaning out the fridge and seeing the amount of food we’ve collected or stored, food that we maybe have long forgotten; you grow to become grateful for all the blessings you’ve received throughout your life. Some families don’t have the opportunity to throw out food like we do, so being appreciative for what you have has always been a lesson I hoped you received.”   
  
He looked toward his bakery’s fridge with a smile. “Responsibility is another one. Obvious, but sometimes overlooked. Not only being responsible for cleaning the fridge, but also learning to take responsibility. If you did something wrong like cleaned a shelf badly, or accidentally threw away something important, it was always learning to take responsibility for your actions, and not being afraid to make those mistakes. As long as you learn to admit you were wrong, that was a lesson I knew you would need growing up.”   
  
“Perseverance as well. It takes a village to clean out our fridges, Mare-Bear,” they both chuckled. “But we always end up cleaning them to best of our ability. And we don’t stop until we succeed in having the cleanest fridges in all of Paris!” Marinette let out a loud giggle as her papa spread out his arms to emphasize his point.    
  
Tom smiled and wrapped his arms around his daughter’s shoulders. “Finally, love Marinette.” He gently patted her head, being careful not to mess her hair up this time. “This day is my favorite day because it taught me love. It taught me how much I enjoyed spending time with my two favorite girls. How much I loved seeing you smile as you completed a task, or seeing you transform right in front of my eyes, just by watching you clean the refrigerator shelves. One year, you’d only be reaching the bottom shelf, the next thing I know, you’re reaching the top shelf without breaking a sweat.” His voice trailed off as a nostalgic gleam entered in his orbs.   
  
Marinette felt tears in her eyes as her father brushed a hand over his as well. “Thank you Papa, for everything.” She finally whispered.    
  
As the two smiled at each other, Marinette couldn’t help but look over at the bakery’s fridge and back at her father. Her lips curved into a small smirk before she reached down and gave his hand a small squeeze. His eyebrow rose. “What do you say we finish cleaning out the fridge before the day ends?” Her face broke into a grin. “Just the two of us?”   
  
Tom’s mouth dropped. “What about going to the movies with Alya?”   
  
She shook her head. “It’s Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. It only happens once a year, and now that I know what it’s really about, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”   
  
Marinette wished she could have captured her papa’s smile as he gave her the largest grin she had ever seen on his face. “Of course, Mare-Bear.”   
  
_ Clean Your Refrigerator Day ended up being Marinette and Tom’s Favorite Day ever since. _


End file.
